PEOPLE HELPING DOLPHINS

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PEOPLE HELPING DOLPHINS

I am happy to share with you a new level of human-dolphin communication, in which our friendly Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins acknowledge our love, and ask us for help. These are a few examples of the trust and healing we are experiencing.

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STORY I — CORAL MOUTH, A BABY

In April 2000 I was having my usual morning swim with the resident pod, when a three-month-old baby dolphin swam toward me. She appeared to be carrying a large flower in her mouth and was offering it to me. My warm feelings of pleasure and appreciation changed slowly to concern as I realized the large round object protruding from the baby's mouth was a calcified growth that looked exactly like pink cauliflower coral and was as large as a baseball. The baby continued to swim close to me, as I observed this solid mass on the left side of her beak. It did not move in the water's flow. It was stiff and appeared to be attached to or even growing from her teeth. I had never seen anything like this before and would be very interested to hear from anyone who might know what this could be. I noticed a small piece of it protruded on the opposite side of her mouth and I wondered if she could still nurse. Her mother swam near by.
Each day the little dolphin approached me, as well as other swimmers. The reactions from the people were always the same. At first they thought, "She is bringing me a flower". Then they realized it was an aberration.
This little one, named "Coral Mouth" seemed to be asking for assistance by swimming toward me each day. A month later, I decided to reach over and get a hold on the large calcified coral in her mouth. As I reached out, she did not swim away, but waited. The porous growth was rigid and hard in my hand. It was tightly stuck in place. Being careful not to hurt her, I wiggled it a little and loosened it as much as I could while Coral Mouth floated calmly next to me. The growth could not be removed.
In a few days, she swam up to me. With great relief, I saw it had fallen away. Only the small piece remained on the right side of her mouth. By June I noticed she was able to nurse and swim naturally, close to her mother. I think I had helped by loosening it a little and I was warmed by the knowledge that she trusted me to help her.

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STORY II — THE BABY AND THE NET

June 12, 2000 - Another Rescue
On this day there were many human-dolphin encounters occurring in dolphin bay as usual, when a baby dolphin approached my friend Celeste. It startled her by coming face-to-face with her snorkeling mask and tapping the mask repeatedly with its little beak.
She asked with surprise and concern, "What? What do you want, Honey?" Her heart felt a pain as she noticed the tail of the baby dolphin was completely entangled in an old fishing net. The young dolphin was having difficulty surfacing for air due to the weight of the net. Now, Celeste understood why the dolphin had come to her. This baby dolphin seemed to know that humans have hands and that this particular human, had a kind and loving heart. She would help.
Celeste, treading water, immediately attempted to remove the net, only to realize she would need a knife to cut it free. It was tightly tangled and embedded in the skin. The young dolphin did not move away. Celeste held the baby dolphin gently in her arms, allowing her to breathe more easily. She could feel its little heart beating fast against her body …scared but trusting. While another swimmer went for help, Celeste talked softly to this little one, sending love to the dolphin until she felt the heartbeat slow down. The baby dolphin looked into her eyes and a deep level of trust and caring was shared. Another swimmer came to assist and while Celeste gently cradled the dolphin in her arms, most of the fishing net was slowly, carefully removed. Two adult dolphins circled nearby, watching. There was still a long piece of line imbedded in the tail that could not be removed, since no one in the vicinity seemed to have a dive knife.
However, the baby dolphin was feeling better now and began to wiggle and seek freedom. Celeste immediately let her go. The baby swam to the two adult dolphins. They all returned to Celeste as if to say, "thank you", swam a circle around her and then swam away.
Those dolphins were not familiar to us; that is, they were not ones that we know by name. Somehow, they knew that people in the dolphin bay would help them and they came for assistance.

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STORY III —
MESA

A few years ago, I met another Spinner who became entangled in a fishing line. When I first saw him, the line was wrapped around his dorsal fin, down his back and around the trunk of his tail. It was very tangled and every movement of his fluke created a pull on the dorsal fin. This was not a dolphin I knew well at the time and he did not swim close to me. With great sorrow I observed him each day as the line cut into the forward edge of the dorsal and began to severe off the top half of his fin. A boat captain offered me assistance with the thought of using a soft net to catch the dolphin and quickly cutting the line free, but the dolphin would not allow the boat to approach him.
Eventually the line cut the top of his dorsal fin off and he was then free of the line as it finally released from being tightly wound around his tail and fell away. This is the dolphin we call Mesa because of his flat dorsal fin.
Swimmers and boat captains are always ready to help the dolphins in any way they can.

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STORY IV — REMORA FISH

The dolphins often have suckerfish, called Remoras on their bodies. At first these fish seem benign. They may even be removing parasites on the skin of the dolphins. But I have noticed that eventually they begin to cause wounds on the dolphins where they eat away the flesh, especially in the area near the base of the dorsal fin. These Remora fish are one of the reasons that Spinner dolphins do so much aerial spinning. They are trying to dislodge these fish and send them flying into the water. Often you will see a dolphin spinning over and over again in an attempt to remove the pesky Remora.
"Stitches," photo by Joan Ocean
One day, my dolphin friend, Stitches, had one of these suckerfish on his body. He had been trying to remove it, unsuccessfully, spinning in the air repeatedly. They are not easy to remove. Finally he swam over to me and looked in my eye. Obviously receiving some kind of communication from him, I asked, "Do you want me to try and remove it?" He came closer alongside so the Remora was in easy reach of my hands, nearly stopped swimming altogether and waited. Uncertain, I reached out slowly to the left side of Stitches' back, but the Remora was too fast for me. Seeing my approaching hand, he scooted to the right side. My hand followed the suckerfish, around Stitches back. Stitches began to squirm, so I gave up and righted myself in the water waiting to see what he wanted to do. Stitches circled around and returned, to give me another try. This time I was faster, immediately grabbed the Remora from his back and threw it off. The fish didn't like being without a home base, so it attached itself to my leg. (They do this from time to time when I am swimming among the dolphins.) I have noticed that when I swim slowly, the fish does not hurt, but if I dive or swim fast, the Remora holds on very tightly and it becomes painful. This is why the dolphins eventually attempt to remove them from their bodies. For me it was easy to reach down and remove the fish with my hands and swim away.
Not all the dolphins seek our help with the Remoras and I would never remove one unless the dolphin asked me to. It's a cooperative effort!

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STORY V — LUCKY IS LOST

In the winter of 1998, the U.S. Navy was conducting low frequency active sonar tests in Hawaiian waters. I had been swimming among Hawaiian dolphins for a decade and I noticed changes in the Spinner pods during these tests. Often they were bunched together on the surface, sometimes keeping their heads above water. Also, their sounds were very loud, constant and disturbed. Perhaps, they were concerned for their friends, the Humpback Whales who were adversely affected by this sonar and had to leave the Big Island waters altogether to escape the sounds.
During the testing, I was on a boat when I heard a radio call from another boat captain who was searching for me. There was a dolphin in distress and they were asking for my help. I immediately motored to their location to find a confused young Spinner dolphin who seemed unable to locate her mother. She had been swimming erratically on the surface for quite a while now. Yet I could see a pod of approximately 100 Spinners, not 500 feet away. I entered the water and attempted to swim to her. She had injuries on her underside and a round cookie-cutter shark bite on her right flank. Her eyes were wide. She was scared, and evaded me. There were no adult dolphins around her. I waited, resting in my boat until she came close again. Then, slipping quietly into the water, I was able to swim alongside her and position myself slightly ahead of her. She easily moved into my water flow field or slipstream. In a very short time I felt her relax and become calm as we swam side by side together. She remained at my side, close by, in the way she would swim with her mother.
Now I was able to gently swim with her to the nearby pod, where she gratefully joined the other Spinners. Captain Claudia named her "Lucky" meaning lucky to be alive!

Lucky with Cookie Cutter Shark bite.

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STORY VI — COOKIE AND THE FISH HOOK

In 1999 I noticed a dolphin with a long fishing line hooked into its side. The line was trailing at least 24 feet behind. Diving down, I saw it was a female called Cookie. I caught the end of the line, hoping to remove the fishhook. Instead, I saw the dolphin momentarily stopped in her movement as I held on to the nylon line. She panicked and pulled hard. Naturally, I dropped the line immediately not wanting to hurt her. I saw that I would need something sharp to cut the line, so I swam to shore and returned with pruning shears. After circling around me, Cookie realized that I wanted to help. Although I could not dislodge the hook, I was able to cut off at least 20 feet of the line. The shortened line was not as much of a drag and was less likely to get tangled around the fluke or in coral below. I am happy to report that eventually the hook with the remaining line, worked its way out.

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STORY VII — PLASTIC BAG

It was a beautiful day and we were with the dolphins in Keahole Bay. They were swimming with us with great exuberance … playing, diving, sounding, laughing. Flukes, fins and snorkels made colorful, joyous ripples on the big blue sea. Everyone was having fun.
Below us we noticed a white, ghost-like object about three feet across. What was it? The dolphins reached it first. Playfully one dolphin took it with his rostrum and swam away with the rest of the pod in noisy pursuit! It was a plastic bag that probably had blown from a boat or from the shore. As we humans floated above and watched, the dolphins, far below, took turns playing with it… catching it on their dorsal fins and their tails. Then one dolphin took it on his nose and dove deep. Part of the bag seemed to rip apart and as the dolphin spun below, the bag, stretched-out longer, wrapping itself around him. It covered his head and wrapped around his dorsal fin. He tried to shake it free in the usual manner, but this time it did not loosen. He swam unevenly, shaking his head. The bag became tighter around him. He was at least 80 feet down beneath us.
We realized that he was in trouble. The bag was not floating away, it was becoming tighter and the dolphin appeared to be disoriented. Andrea, an excellent swimmer, dove quickly, down; down deeper than the average person can go. As she approached the dolphin, he seemed to sense her presence and her intent. He became quiet and Andrea was able to hold her breath long enough to pull the plastic away from his head. She dove again and the dolphin allowed her to approach, to retrieve the bag and take it out of the water. A tragedy was averted. The dolphins and the people were grateful!

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STORY VIII — DOLPHIN DECEASED

August 4, 2000
One of my boat captain friends, Veto and his wife LesLee were on their boat in Kua Bay on this Friday morning with a small group of people from Sweden, and the videographer, Kaiwi. Swimming in the calm blue waters, surrounded by the friendly Spinners, they all noticed a group of dolphins swimming in a tight circle. Wondering what was attracting their interest, the people swam over and observed a young Spinner surrounded by Spotted dolphins who were trying to bring him to the surface. This young one was lying very still just above the white sand. As the people observed and floated above, they noticed that the juvenile was not moving. Kaiwi dove down for a closer look. The dolphin appeared to be dead. Kaiwi dove again, gently, respectfully, approaching it. The other dolphins did not object or move away. Kaiwi swam to the dolphin, there on the bottom, and softly scooped him into his arms. As they floated upward, he felt a faint heartbeat. LesLee, on the surface, gently swam the dolphin toward Veto in his zodiac. Veto carefully received the dolphin, lifted it onto the boat and began to administer artificial respiration by opening the blow hole and blowing air into the hole. There was a nurse on board who supervised the rescue attempt, but they were not able to detect a response. Feeling helpless to do any more, they gently returned this fragile little one to the water where Kaiwi dove down and returned him to the pod -- the moms and aunties. The dolphins were quiet and attentive, seeming to appreciate this attempt to save the baby's life. The humans left the dolphin area, respectfully. This encounter was filmed by Kaiwi.

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STORY IX — THE LONG LINE

August 9, 2000
Many have seen dolphins with long fishing lines wound around their tails and their bodies. On this day, a dolphin with an attached fishing line and swimming by itself came over to Lisa D. The dolphin stopped and waited while Lisa unwound part of the line from the fluke.
The next day, August 10th, Lisa brought a pair of underwater, blunted tipped scissors into the water. Immediately the same dolphin swam right to her. Lisa was able to cut away most of the long trailing line, but she noticed that more of the line was twisted tightly around the fluke shank and the tail itself. Later that same day, we watched a dolphin come over to Lisa, swimming close to her side and guiding her in a specific direction. It would not let her swim to the right, as it held its position on her right side. Weaving and escorting Lisa, this dolphin brought her close to shore. Lisa followed his lead wondering what he wanted. There, close to shore her escort brought her directly to the same dolphin with the fishing line still entangled on its tail. The injured dolphin was alone in the shallow water, hovering near the bottom. Seeing the dolphin, Lisa mentally asked, "Do you want me to dive down to you?" Knowing that it would be more difficult to assist when under water, Lisa floated on the surface. The dolphin came up to her. She was able to use the scissors and cut more of the line away before the dolphin became impatient with holding still and began to move on. There was still fishing line across part of the fluke, difficult to remove because it is deeply imbedded in the skin. Perhaps he will give us another chance tomorrow.

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Death of a Dolphin Friend
June 9, 2002

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We are participating in a wonderful series of events now; in which dolphins are coming to us for assistance. These stories are just a few of the many experiences that are taking place.

For years we have dreamed and talked about a healing center for humans where dolphins would continue to assist us. By merging with dolphin dreamtime, we discover that the dolphins are also planning a dolphin/human center where we can assist them.

I would love to hear of your personal stories about dolphins who are seeking and receiving human help while swimming with us in the oceans. Thank you.

With Love,
Joan Ocean


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